Best Cleaning Business Software in 2026: Honest Reviews for Small Cleaning Companies

All pricing and ratings verified as of February 2026

Most software roundups in this space are written by agencies who get a cut of whatever they recommend. They'll tell you Jobber is "great for teams of all sizes" without mentioning you'll pay $169/month before you've hired your second cleaner. They'll call Housecall Pro "affordable" while burying the fact that the features that make it worth buying are all paid add-ons.

We've used, tested, and watched cleaning business owners struggle with most of the tools on this list. Here's what we actually think.

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Quick Picks

Best Overall (3–10 employees): Jobber Best for Maid Services Specifically: ZenMaid Best Online Booking Experience: BookingKoala Best for Marketing-Obsessed Owners: Housecall Pro Best for Solo Operators on a Budget: ServiceM8 Best for Commercial Cleaning: Swept

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Side-by-Side Comparison

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The Honest Reviews

1. Jobber — The Safe Bet for Growing Cleaning Teams

Pricing: Core $39/mo (1 user) · Connect $169/mo (up to 5 users) · Grow $349/mo (up to 10 users) · Plus $599/mo (up to 15 users) G2: 4.5/5 · 295 reviews · Capterra: 4.5/5 · 936 reviews Best for: 3–10 person residential or mixed cleaning crews

Jobber is what we recommend to most cleaning business owners who are past the "I'm figuring this out" phase and ready for something that handles the whole operation. It's not the cheapest, but it's the least likely to break something important six months in.

The scheduling calendar is drag-and-drop and actually works the way a dispatch board should. Quote-to-invoice workflows are tight — send a quote, get approval, complete the job, invoice automatically. The client hub lets customers request service, approve quotes, and pay invoices without calling you. Automated two-way SMS texting keeps clients in the loop without manual effort.

What it does well: Recurring jobs are a first-class feature here — set up weekly, biweekly, or monthly schedules and Jobber manages the cadence without babysitting. The mobile app is genuinely good. Reporting covers the basics: revenue, job history, outstanding invoices. QuickBooks and Stripe integrations work reliably most of the time.

Where it falls flat: Per-user pricing is the trap. At the Connect plan ($169/mo for 5 users), you're already at $2,000/year. Add a sixth user at $29/month and you're approaching $350/month. The marketing tools are basic compared to Housecall Pro — if automated review campaigns and email marketing matter to you, Jobber won't satisfy. Reporting depth is also shallow; you can't easily build custom reports without exporting to a spreadsheet.

Real user complaint (G2): "The QuickBooks sync is inconsistent. I've had invoices duplicate or just not transfer at all. Support is helpful but it keeps happening."

Skip this if: You're solo — you don't need what you're paying for. You need heavy commercial cleaning workflows or janitorial-specific features — Swept handles that better. You're building a marketing-led business and want automated campaigns out of the box.

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2. ZenMaid — Built By Cleaning Business Owners, For Cleaning Business Owners

Pricing: Starter $19/mo + $4/seat · Pro $39/mo + $14/seat · Pro Max $49/mo + $24/seat G2: 4.7/5 · Capterra: 4.6/5 Best for: Residential maid services, house cleaning companies

ZenMaid exists because the people who built it ran a maid service and were frustrated by generic field service software. That context shows. Every feature in the product was designed for house cleaning specifically — not repurposed from HVAC software or plumbing dispatch tools.

The booking form converts well. Automated SMS and email reminders reduce no-shows without any manual setup. GPS tracking gives you real-time visibility on where your cleaners are. Checklists are built in — your crew gets their task list on their phone, you get confirmation it was done.

The seat-based pricing model is actually transparent once you do the math: a 5-person team on Pro is $39 + (4 × $14) = $95/month. That's legitimately affordable for a residential cleaning operation that would pay $169/month on Jobber's Connect plan.

What it does well: The learning curve is low — owners consistently say it's faster to get up and running than Jobber or BookingKoala. Customer communications are excellent: automated pre-appointment reminders, post-job thank-yous, and re-engagement messages are all included. The Pro Max plan adds Mailchimp and Zapier integrations for owners who want to connect ZenMaid to their marketing stack.

Where it falls flat: No built-in payroll. If you have W-2 employees and want to run payroll inside the same tool, ZenMaid can't do it — you'll need a separate integration or just use Gusto/ADP alongside it. Payment processing has been a recurring complaint: some users report clients being unable to complete online payments even when their cards work fine everywhere else. The mobile app (3.2 on Google Play, 4.0 on App Store) isn't as polished as Jobber's.

Real user complaint (Capterra): "We've had issues where clients get double-reminder messages, and the scheduling window doesn't always reflect what I set. Support responds fast but some bugs have been there for months."

Skip this if: You do commercial cleaning. ZenMaid is residential-first, full stop. You need payroll processing in the same platform. You're scaling past 20 employees and need enterprise reporting.

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3. BookingKoala — If Online Booking Is Your Whole Business Model

Pricing: Free (limited) · Growing $49/mo · Premium $119/mo G2: 4.3/5 · Capterra: 4.3/5 Best for: Cleaning businesses built around online instant booking

Quick note on Launch27: BookingKoala was built by the same team as Launch27 as a successor product. If you've been looking at Launch27 ($75/month), know that it's now effectively legacy software. BookingKoala is the active platform with ongoing development.

BookingKoala's strength is the booking experience itself. The instant-quote booking forms are polished and conversion-optimized in a way most competitors' aren't. Customers can book, see pricing, and pay without ever talking to you. If your whole acquisition model is "people find us online and book immediately," BookingKoala handles that better than anyone on this list.

The backend has everything you'd expect: scheduling, dispatch, invoicing, customer management. The flat pricing (no per-user fees) makes it attractive once you're adding staff.

What it does well: The booking widget is genuinely excellent — customizable, fast, and actually drives conversions. Active product development means the platform gets real feature updates. Customer support has a reputation for being responsive, including evenings and weekends. The free plan lets you test real functionality before committing.

Where it falls flat: Setup is hard. This is the consistent refrain across review platforms, and it's accurate — the platform is powerful but not intuitive. One reviewer put it plainly: "You need to be a computer programmer to set it up." The UI is dense. Plan 30–60 minutes minimum just for initial configuration, and budget time to revisit settings when things don't work as expected.

More concerning: BookingKoala experienced a two-week outage at some point with minimal communication to affected users. For a business running entirely through the platform, that's operationally catastrophic. One user on Capterra described the outage plus the company's response as the reason they left.

Real user complaint (Capterra): "Setup is extremely difficult and time-consuming for the average person. I spent two full days trying to configure things that should take an hour."

Skip this if: You need simple — BookingKoala rewards patience and technical confidence, but if you want something running in an afternoon, look at ZenMaid or Jobber. You're not leaning on online booking as a primary channel — most of the value is in that booking experience, so if you rely on referrals or repeat clients, the premium isn't worth it.

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4. Housecall Pro — For the Cleaning Owner Who Wants to Be a Marketer

Pricing: Basic $69/mo annually ($79/mo monthly) for 1 user · Essentials $149/mo annually ($189/mo monthly) for up to 5 users G2: 4.3/5 · Capterra: 4.7/5 Best for: Growing cleaning businesses that want automated marketing, reviews, and retention campaigns

Housecall Pro's pitch is that it helps you grow, not just operate. The scheduling and invoicing are solid, but where it differentiates is marketing automation: automated review requests after every job, customer follow-up emails, win-back campaigns for inactive clients. Most cleaning software makes you plug in a separate Mailchimp account and hack it together. Housecall Pro bakes it in.

If you're the kind of owner who thinks about Google reviews, repeat booking rates, and customer lifetime value — not just today's schedule — Housecall Pro has tools that actually move those metrics.

What it does well: Review request automation is the standout. The system sends a follow-up after each job asking for a Google review, and the templates convert well. Customer retention campaigns (win back lapsed clients, seasonal promos) run automatically once configured. Onboarding is smoother than Jobber's. The consumer app experience — how it looks when a client is booking or paying — is polished.

Where it falls flat: Add-on cost creep is the #1 complaint on every review platform, and it's legitimate. The base plan is reasonably priced, but the features that make Housecall Pro worth choosing over Jobber — the marketing tools, the customer portal upgrades, the enhanced reporting — are often behind additional paid upgrades. What looks like a $149/month tool can quietly become $250-300/month once you've turned on what you actually need.

Mobile app reliability is also a recurring issue in reviews. Techs in the field report glitches, slow load times, and features not reflecting real-time data. Support quality has a strong correlation with which plan you're on — Basic plan users consistently report slower, less helpful responses.

Real user complaint (G2): "I feel like I'm always being upsold. Every feature I actually want is an add-on. I've gone from $79/month to over $250 in six months just turning on things that should be in the base plan."

Skip this if: Marketing automation doesn't move the needle for your business — a referral-based operation won't see the ROI. You're solo or a two-person team — the price-to-value ratio only makes sense once you have volume. You hate surprises on your monthly bill.

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5. ServiceM8 — Genuinely Free for Solo Operators

Pricing: Free (up to 30 jobs/month) · Starter $29/mo · Growing $79/mo · Premium $149/mo · Premium Plus $349/mo G2: not actively managed · Capterra: 4.6/5 · 310 reviews Best for: Solo operators and small 1–3 person cleaning crews

ServiceM8 is Australian-born software that hasn't gotten the US marketing budget of its competitors. That's probably the reason it's underused here, because for solo operators and small crews, it's genuinely excellent — and the free plan for under 30 jobs/month is one of the best deals in field service software.

There are no per-user fees. One price, unlimited team members. For a 3-person crew, that alone can save $60-90/month compared to Jobber. The job management workflow is clean: create a job, assign it, track it, invoice it. Quote-to-invoice works well. Basic client management is solid. Email and SMS are included.

What it does well: The free tier is real, not crippled. If you're doing under 30 jobs a month — which many solo operators are — you can run your entire operation without paying anything. The Starter plan at $29/month supports unlimited jobs and users for a team just getting organized. Accounting integrations (Xero, QuickBooks) are reliable. The iOS app is well-regarded.

Where it falls flat: ServiceM8 leans iOS-first, which matters if your cleaners use Android. The Android experience has historically lagged. Payment processing through their Stripe integration carries fees that users on Capterra specifically called out as high — and the company's response to refund requests has been described as unresponsive. If you run Google Ads and want proper conversion tracking from a booking form, ServiceM8's current setup won't let you do it cleanly — a meaningful gap if you're spending money on paid traffic.

Real user complaint (Capterra): "ServiceM8 was not helpful when requesting a refund on a large fee. My request was rejected multiple times. The payment fees through Stripe are also significant — they don't seem to care about small businesses."

Skip this if: Your crew is Android-heavy. You need residential maid service features like checklists and recurring service automation — ZenMaid does this better at a comparable price point. You need built-in marketing tools.

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6. Swept — The Only One Actually Built for Commercial Cleaning

Pricing: Location-based tiers. Three plans: Launch, Optimize, Scaling. You need to request a quote based on your number of locations. G2: 4.3/5 · Capterra: 4.3/5 Best for: Commercial janitorial companies managing multiple client locations

Every other tool on this list is primarily built for residential cleaning. Swept is the outlier — it's designed around how commercial janitorial companies actually operate: multiple locations, shift-based scheduling, supervisor oversight, and employee communication at scale.

The core value is transparency between your office and your cleaning staff. Cleaners clock in and out by location (with GPS verification). Supervisors get real-time updates. Inspection reports are built in. Supply tracking is available on higher plans. The communication tools let you push instructions to specific teams for specific locations without a group text chaos spiral.

What it does well: For the right use case — managing 10+ commercial cleaning contracts — Swept solves problems that generic field service software handles poorly. The employee communication tools are well-designed. Time tracking tied to location is accurate. The inspection reporting is useful for client-facing accountability.

Where it falls flat: The app is the Achilles heel. Multiple Capterra reviewers from 2025 report the mobile app crashing, lagging, or failing to load. Clock-in/out inconsistency is the most common complaint. One user called it being "overcharged for things that don't work properly." The mobile app ratings reflect this: 3.5 on Google Play and 3.1 on App Store — the worst scores of any tool in this roundup.

Swept also doesn't publish pricing. You'll need to request a quote, go through a demo, and talk to sales before you know what you'll pay. For a small commercial cleaning company that just needs a number, that friction is annoying.

Real user complaint (Capterra, March 2025): "The app constantly crashed, or was too slow, or wouldn't open at all. Clocking in and out doesn't work consistently. Supply orders doesn't work consistently. The app closes on you in the middle of using it."

Skip this if: You're residential-focused — Swept doesn't serve that market well. You can't tolerate app reliability issues in your day-to-day operations. You want transparent pricing before talking to a salesperson.

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Do You Even Need Cleaning Software?

Let's be contrarian for a minute, because most people asking this question don't actually need a $100+/month platform.

If you're running solo or with one other person and doing under 20 jobs a month, the honest answer is: maybe not yet. A Google Calendar, a Wave or Invoice Ninja account for free invoicing, and a group chat for communication will handle 80% of what you need. Adding software before you have the volume to justify it just adds administrative overhead with no payoff.

The tipping point is usually around 3–4 employees or 25+ recurring jobs per month. That's when scheduling conflicts become painful, invoicing manually starts eating hours, and client follow-up falls through the cracks consistently. That's when software pays for itself.

If you're not there yet, save the $100-200/month and put it toward marketing.

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Final Recommendations by Business Size

Solo operator (1 person): ServiceM8 free plan. 30 jobs a month, no credit card required, solid invoicing and job management. When you outgrow it, upgrade to Starter at $29/month. Don't overpay for Jobber until you need the team features.

2–5 employees (residential): ZenMaid at the Pro tier. You'll pay $53–81/month depending on seat count, get residential-specific features that generic tools miss, and won't be nickel-and-dimed on add-ons. If you're booking-heavy and want online instant quotes, add BookingKoala to the shortlist.

6–15 employees (residential or mixed): Jobber Connect or Grow. The price is real, but the operational leverage at this team size justifies it. The recurring job management, client hub, and mobile app handle the complexity of coordinating 6–15 people without things falling apart. If you're running aggressive marketing and care about Google reviews and re-engagement campaigns, test Housecall Pro instead — the marketing tools genuinely differentiate.

15+ employees or commercial focus: Swept for janitorial/commercial, ServiceTitan for anything requiring real enterprise depth. Both come with real costs and sales processes. At this size, don't pick software from a blog post — get demos, talk to reference customers, and negotiate pricing.

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What We'd Choose Starting a Cleaning Business Tomorrow

If residential, starting from scratch: ZenMaid Pro. The pricing is honest, the features match the actual job, and the setup is fast enough that you're not spending three days configuring software before you've cleaned a single house. Start at $53/month for a 3-person operation and grow from there.

If commercial, starting from scratch: We'd honestly start with Jobber — despite it being residential-first — because Swept's app reliability issues are a real risk when your clients are businesses expecting professional accountability. We'd move to Swept once we hit 10+ commercial locations and needed the location-based employee management.

If we already had 5 employees and were frustrated with our current setup: Jobber Connect at $169/month. Not glamorous, but the scheduling and client management are reliable, the team has used it (low retraining friction), and the QuickBooks sync works well enough for a bookkeeper. We'd add Housecall Pro's review automation as a parallel test if Google reviews were lagging.

The software that doesn't get used is worthless. Pick the one your team will actually log into.

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Pricing verified as of February 2026. Plans change — confirm on vendor websites before buying.